Following on from Rose’s successful petition, which heralded an unprecedented amount of signatures for a Cannabis Law Reform petition, the health select committee is going to be formally asking for submissions, so its time to get cracking!

We realize that not everyone is in a position to write their own submissions, due to disabilities and the inability to concentrate due to medications etc, so we have had some people volunteer their time to help you, if you are interested in dictating your submission to a volunteer to write, please contact us and we will put you in touch with our volunteers.

For those who can write their own, but are lacking in inspiration, we hope to publish a few drafts over the coming weeks to help,

In the mean time, attached here is a generic submission template.submission-template-1 and here is the Governments resources on making a submission. If you would like to personally present your submission, either in person, or via phone call or video link, (skype) then at the beginning of your submission please write “I would like to speak to my submission”

Completed submissions can be emailed to health@parliament.govt.nz or to Rose at contact@itsmedicine.co.nz

Rosie Baird had these suggestions to say about your writing of a submission.

You should keep your Submissions on point and related to the Petition which wording i have quoted at the end. Ideally your Submissions should cover one or more of the following points:-

Inadequacy of the MOH policy
1. Describe your illness and positive experience of cannabis and why the current moh policy is inadequate for your needs including cost of these expensive products.

2. Describe the experience you have had with your GP and specialist trying to obtain cannabis products and why it was unsuccessful. Note that GPS are not allowed to prescribe a cannabis product under the moh policy. Only specialists.

3. Explain any difficulties you have had trying to find a specialist to prescribe sativex. (There are only three types of specialists who can prescribe this medication under moh policy and they are not always the specialists for the patients medical condition. I.e., for unapproved uses ANY specialist should be able to apply to prescribe Sativex. )

Provide solutions to improve the moh policy.

International Position
4. Provide research that justifies the use of cannabis for many ailments, in particular your medical condition and research that debunks or addresses the moh concerns about safety issues such as driving, smoking, psychosis and gateway drug arguments.

5. Availability of cannabis in other countries. Include their laws and countries that allow cannabis home growing, co-operatives and/or decriminalization.

6. How the UN Drug Conventions in fact allow for medicinal use and shouldn’t be used to excuse NZ’s inactive legal reform and response.

7. Cite people (Professor Nutt et al ) and organisations such as WHO that support the use of medical cannabis and rate it low in terms of its harms.

8. How the UN Human Rights Conventions and domestic law support our human rights to life, to security of person and freedom of choice.

9. Use of whole plant. Entourage effect. Right for patients or caregivers to receive a licence to grow your own cannabis as has been proven in recent years with the support of the Courts in Canada, Mexico, Germany etc. on the basis of human rights.

Conclusion
Your proposed solution in terms of law change required.
Eg
Affordability to be sorted by ability for NZ to produce it’s own cannabis and cannabis products for supply. Ease up laws for licensing for this purpose.

Overhaul of moh policy so that prescriptions written for cannabis products are to be at the sole discretion of the patient’s doctor (GP and/ or specialist) as with any other pharmaceutical product. That cannabis does not have to be the medicine of last resort ie requiring all other medications to be trialed. Check out moh website for other crazy policies.

Amend Regulation 22 MoD Regulations to include cannabis in the list of controlled drugs that do not require Ministerial approval.

Here is the petition wording:

“Rose Renton Medicinal Cannabis for New Zealand Petition 2016

To The House Of Representatives:

New Zealanders urgently need access to safe, affordable, quality medicinal cannabis. The criteria set by the Minister of Health (16th March 2016) to assess applications for Sativex and other established cannabis medicine are too strict, too slow and too expensive. The result is that New Zealanders are being denied medicine.

Cannabis is a well researched, prescribed medicine available in many countries worldwide. New Zealand people are suffering and dying from conditions that medicinal cannabis can relieve and in certain circumstances are proven to cure.

I urge you to support reform of the law to allow access to quality, affordable cannabis in New Zealand for medical use. It is our basic human right to have access to medicine that brings relief and healing. International research and experience prove the safety and functionality of cannabis as medicine. Medicinal cannabis should be available in New Zealand without further delay. ”